


Day 5: Insomnia

by GemmaRose



Series: VLD Whump Week [5]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Gen, Insomnia, Sleep Deprivation, Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-17
Updated: 2017-08-17
Packaged: 2018-12-16 16:30:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,806
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11832597
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GemmaRose/pseuds/GemmaRose
Summary: Without a regulating light cycle, the average human circadian rhythm settles to a 22 hour cycle. Going under that is... difficult.





	Day 5: Insomnia

Hunk yawned, covering his mouth with one hand, and Lance gave him a concerned look which he waved off. “Still getting used to operating on space days.” he gave his best reassuring smile, and Lance clapped him on the back.

“Tell me about it.” he commiserated. “I’ve never needed this much coffee before in my life, outside of finals.”

Hunk nodded, and went back to examining a diagram of the food goo machine. If he could decipher this, that’d be the first step towards making their everyday meals more palatable. Of course, that’d be easier if he could _sleep_ , but with the universe at stake they had to operate on galactic standard time. He’d just have to get used to it.

\---

Hunk squinted at the half-assembled shuttle engine, and rubbed at his temples. This wasn’t supposed to be so hard. He’d been in the top tenth of his class at the Garrison, he’d taken this thing apart oh-so-carefully to see how it worked, he should be able to retrace his steps and get it back in one piece.

“Headache?” Pidge asked, walking up and leaning an elbow on his shoulder.

“Something like that.” Hunk muttered.

“Here.” Pidge offered their mug of space coffee. “Caffeine helps with headaches.”

“You sure?” Hunk asked.

“Yeah.” Pidge nodded, all but forcing the mug into his hands and sitting down next to him. “I used to get really bad migraines, and when I couldn’t just go lie down Mom would give me a handful of chocolate covered espresso beans.” Pidge paused, and tilted their head. “Or just a shot of espresso, if there was a coffee place nearby. Either way, it worked.” they waved a hand dismissively.

“Your mom sounds like more and more of a character every time you talk about her.” Hunk chuckled, and took a sip of the drink. He nearly spat it out, and quickly handed the mug back to Pidge. “What did you _put_ in that?”

“Nothing!” Pidge protested.

“It tastes disgusting.”

“Well excuse me for taking my coffee straight black.” they huffed, taking a swig from the mug. Hunk shook his head, and looked back at the pieces scattered around him.

“I’ll just-” he clamped his lips shut around a yawn, inhaling hard through his nose instead. He blew it back out just as hard, and slumped forward. “I’ll deal.”

“Well, don’t stay up too late.” Pidge patted him on the back.

“Oh, like you’re one to talk.” Hunk smirked, giving them a gentle shove.

“I’m used to pulling all-nighters.” Pidge huffed. “And I’ve got coffee. I’m good for another few days.”

“And then we’ll find you curled up somewhere weird with your laptop and half a robot.” Hunk joked.

“And?” Pidge cocked their head, a small smile pulling at their lips.

“Oh, get to bed.” Hunk huffed, batting his hands in Pidge’s general direction. “I’ll go to sleep as soon as I get this ship put back together.”

“Yeah, please get it put back together.” Pidge nodded as they stood up. “That’s the one I modded, and I don’t wanna go digging for the parts to mod another one just yet.”

“Will do.” Hunk gave a sloppy salute, and Pidge chuckled as they left the hangar. Now, if he could just figure out where this pipe was supposed to go...

\---

Hunk groaned, rolling over and pinning his pillow over his ears. “I just got back to sleeeep.” he complained, fumbling across the sheets for his phone. The alarm shut up with a swipe of his fingers over the screen, and he relaxed back into the mattress. He’d finally reached a comfortable doze when the screeching started up again, and he levered himself up off the bed to glare down at his phone. The message on-screen was cheerfully reminding him it was time to start on breakfast before Coran got the chance, and he shut off the alarm properly before heaving himself out of bed.

“Stupid space days.” he grumbled, shuffling into the bathroom and turning on the tap. Cold water in his face helped wake him up a little, but he still felt tired and groggy and looked- well, honestly he looked like shit. The dark rims which perpetually haunted the skin under Pidge and Shiro’s eyes had finally shown up on him, and his hair was a mess. Ugh, whatever, he’d take care of it after breakfast. He was too tired for this.

In the kitchen, the strange thing which turned kousa powder into space coffee was bubbling away, and after some deliberation Hunk stuck a mug under its dispenser thing and filled it halfway. Altean powdered milk had a weirdly rich, sweet taste to it that made it a bit unpalatable to drink straight, but when mixed with space coffee it made the hell drink taste less awful. He dropped the mug in the sink once it was empty, and rubbed at his eyes with the heels of his hands. Fuck, he was going to stay groggy until he metabolised the caffeine, which meant cooking sleepy, which meant either a cold breakfast or burnt fingers.

“Fuck it.” he muttered, turning to the food goo machine. He could make egg-flavoured food goo and mix it with chopped up space spam. It wasn’t much, but it was better than letting Coran cook. When Coran made breakfast they wound up picking at their food and being hungry ‘til dinner, which made training miserable for everyone.

\---

“Watch out!”

Hunk jerked at Lance’s shout, and promptly went sprawling as a robotic fist caught him under the jaw. He staggered backwards, tripping over Pidge, and they both went down hard. He only barely got his shield up in time to block the training dummy’s staff from pointing at his throat, and then Keith came in and hacked it nearly in two.

“You two okay?” Shiro asked, offering Hunk a hand up as the training dummy dropped through the floor.

“More or less.” Hunk winced.

“Of course _you’re_ fine.” Pidge grumbled as Shiro helped them up.

“Sorry about that.” Hunk sighed.

“Hey man, are you okay?” Lance asked, bayard dissolving into light as he walked over. “You don’t look so hot.”

“Like Pidge said, I’m fine.” Hunk managed a chuckle. Lance crossed his arms.

“If you were fine, you wouldn’t’ve been zoning out during training.” he said sharply, eyes narrowed. His face softened after only a moment though, and he uncrossed his arms as he stepped into Hunk’s personal space. “Seriously, dude, if you’ve got space flu you don’t have to keep it to yourself.”

“Please do, actually.” Keith said drily.

“Did anyone ask you, Mullet?” Lance snapped, glaring briefly at his self-proclaimed rival before returning his attention to Hunk. “But really, if anything’s eating you, you can talk to me.” Lance smiled, warm and reassuring as ever as he held up a fist. “Best bros, right?”

“Yeah, best bros.” Hunk grinned, bumping his gloved knuckles to Lance’s.

\---

“Were you even paying attention during the mission briefing?” Keith snapped over the comms, and Hunk dragged his hands down his face with a barely-suppressed groan.

“No, I wasn’t.” he fired back. “I was trying to get a wink of sleep, because it’s two in the fucking morning and I’m _tired_.”

“Two-?”

“Yes, Keith. Two AM.” Hunk retorted, so far past the point of giving a fuck about how he sounded it was nothing more than a speck vanishing into the infinite void of space. “It’s two AM, and I’m in space, and I don’t care what mineral we need to get to solidify this alliance or how shitty the collection is going to be because, newsflash, everything sucks at two in the morning!”

“We had lunch, like, three tocks ago.” Keith sounded like he was frowning.

“Keith, my sleep schedule has been wrecked all to shit since we left Earth.” Hunk snapped bitterly. “I don’t even remember the last time I got a full night’s sleep, let alone a full night’s sleep _actually at night_. So let’s just get these stupid rocks, get back to the castle, and I’ll go try to get maybe a tock of shut-eye before dinner.”

For a long few seconds there was silence, nothing at all from Keith’s end, then Hunk heard him sigh into his mic.“Fine, let’s grab the rocks and head home so you can take a nap.”

\---

The sound of someone knocking pulled Hunk back from the brink of sleep, and he groaned as he pushed himself up. “What?” he snapped in the general direction of his door.

“Can I come in?” Coran asked. Hunk sighed heavily, and flopped back onto his bed.

“Sure.”

The door swooshed open, and Coran walked in with an expression Hunk couldn’t read. “Keith said you wanted to talk to me.” he said, leaning against the dresser. “He called it a medical issue?”

Hunk resolved to whack Keith upside the head tomorrow. “It’s nothing, Coran.” he smiled, and it felt fake on his face. “Just having some trouble adjusting to the day length here.”

Coran frowned, and crossed the rest of the room to sit on the edge of the bed. “I know that you and the other Paladins see me as Allura’s advisor, but in the past I was a confidant for all the Paladins of Voltron, not just her father.” he sighed, and clasped his hands in his lap. “It was remiss of me not to ensure you five knew that.”

“Coran, really-”

“I’m not blind, Hunk.” Coran cut him off. “And neither are the other Paladins. Whatever this is, it’s been affecting you for movements now. So tell me what’s wrong, and I’ll see what I can do to help.”

“It really is just me not adjusting.” Hunk insisted. “Humans aren’t built to run on 20 hour days.”

“The rest of the Paladins have managed it alright.” Coran pointed out. “Hunk, I want to help you but I can’t do that if you won’t tell me whats wrong.”

Hunk looked down at his lap, chewing on the inside of his lower lip. Coran rested a hand on his knee, and after a minute he sighed. “I can’t get to sleep.” he admitted quietly. “I try, but I just- I can’t. I’m so tired all the time, and-”

“It’s alright.” Coran soothed, squeezing his knee comfortingly. “Operating on a shorter sleep cycle takes some getting used to, and not everyone can do it on their own. Why, Allura’s own mother needed help when she and Alfor were at extended diplomatic meetings.” he chuckled, and Hunk decided he was never going to ask for elaboration on that. “Come with me to Medical, we can work out if the computer has any sleep aids which will work with your biology.” Coran said as he stood, and Hunk swung his legs out of bed to follow suite.


End file.
